RPT-Brazil's Karsten may have missed bond payments -paper

Redacción de Reuters

1 MIN. DE LECTURA

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BRASILIA, May 19 (Reuters) - Brazilian textile company Karsten SA might have failed to pay 237 million reais ($66.04 million) due in debt and interest, and creditors are seeking to seize assets in lieu of payment, newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo reported on Thursday.

The borrowings, made in the form of debentures maturing in 2017, were fully subscribed by lenders Banco do Brasil SA , Banco Bradesco SA, HSBC Holdings PLC , Itaú Unibanco Holding SA, Banco Santander Brasil SA and Banco Votorantim SA, the paper said, without saying how it obtained the information.

No one was immediately available to comment on the story by phone at the company’s headquarters in the southern city of Blumenau.

Estado said Karsten ruled out seeking bankruptcy protection. The company also told Estado that it was in negotiations with the banks and that it had enough assets to pay its debts.